Retiree jogs entire length of Route 66

Saturday

Dec 19, 2009 at 4:31 PMDec 21, 2009 at 1:12 PM

VICTORVILLE • Tired of looking for things to do in his retirement, a 71-year-old Illinois man decided to go for a jog on Route 66 — all 2,448 miles.

Emory Duick started out on June 2 at the intersection of Jackson St. and Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago where Route 66 begins. After 202 days and more than 2,000 miles, he is passing through Victorville and Hesperia this week on his way to the Santa Monica Pier, where the highway ends.

"I'm doing this for seniors age 50 to 85 years old because what I saw, even prior to doing this, is that when people retire in their 60s they kind of retire from life too and that's just not right," Duick said.

People he met along the way see Duick as an inspiration.

"I had a woman in Tulsa tell me she got inspired after reading a story in the local paper about what I'm doing," Duick said. "She caught up with me and told me she retired a few months ago and wasn't doing anything. But after reading about my jogging cross country, she said she's joining a gym and getting active.

Duick, who lives in Des Plaines, Ill., has been jogging on the Mother Road for 202 days and when he got to Victorville had logged more than 2,150 miles. He's on his fifth pair of jogging shoes. His daughter, Lauren Duick, follows along in a car tracking mileage and mapping out the route.

In a metaphoric way of speaking, Duick says life is just one long road and it doesn't end at retirement. "Your quality of life after retirement is contingent on whether you stay active or not," he said.

He hopes to make the Santa Monica Pier by New Year's Eve.

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